New Heathrow terminal named after Queen Elizabeth II

As The Queen prepares to mark her official birthday, Heathrow is announcing that its new Terminal 2 will be known as ‘Terminal 2: The Queen’s Terminal’, in honour of Her Majesty The Queen.

The new Terminal 2 will open next year, on 4th June 2014, nearly sixty years after The Queen opened the original Terminal 2.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow’s Development Director, said: “The Queen opened the original Terminal 2 more than half a century ago and we’re delighted that Her Majesty has kindly agreed to give her name to the new Terminal 2.

“Everyone at Heathrow is extremely proud of our long association with The Queen and we know the new Terminal 2 will be a fitting continuation of that tradition.”

Heathrow was originally known as London Airport when it opened in 1946 with a temporary village of tents for passengers. Those tents were gradually replaced with prefabricated concrete villages before the opening of the old Terminal 2 and Queen’s Building. Our love of air travel has seen passenger numbers at Heathrow rise from just 63,000 in 1946, to more than 2m in 1955 and 70m last year.

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In contrast to those early days, the new Terminal 2 will be similar in feel to the multi-award winning Terminal 5. It will use the latest check-in and bag-drop technology to give passengers a smooth, enjoyable and efficient journey through the airport whilst shops and restaurants offer travellers the very best of Britain.

It is one of the largest private construction projects in the UK, with a supply chain and jobs supported in every region and country. By the time it opens next year, the £2.5bn project will have supported 35,000 jobs.

The terminal is the next major step in the transformation of Heathrow, and will continue the progress the airport has made in recent years with the opening of Terminal 5 and the refurbishment of Terminals 1, 3 and 4. £11bn has been spent on the airport over the last decade and passenger satisfaction scores now rank Heathrow as among the world’s very best large airports.

The terminal is on schedule to be completed in November 2013 and there will then be six months of testing. By the time the terminal opens for service it will have undergone 182 trials and been tested by 14,000 people.